Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay, everyone. Yes, I broke my promise. But, as always, I thank the reviewers and announce that this chapter is 'specially for Ruru-chan. :3
;Stardard dsiclaimer applies.
Chapter eleven: Agony
Katrina giggled and thrust her gemmy glasses up her nose. She rose from her stool and frolicked over to Vash, the flares of her thigh-hugging jeans swaying madly. Resting her elbow on Vash's shoulder, she leaned against him. There was an evilly fascinated grin on her face. Vash shifted uneasily.
"Come ooooon," he griped. "Do we have to talk about it?" Katrina made a huff and gave Vash an expression of scathing plea.
"Oh, go on, Vash!" she coaxed. "I'm ever so jealous!" She pouted and began clawing at his sleeve with her pink nails. "Tell Kitty-Kat!"
Vash whined helplessly and made a vain attempt to scurry away, only to be tackled over.
"Let go of meeeeee!" he hissed with less force than intended.
"No way!" Katrina persisted. "Not until you tell me everything!" she said with a maniacal laugh. Vash sighed, crawling away into a corner and curling up in it. Katrina shambled over on her knees, a vivacious grin still occupying her mouth. Her large earrings bobbled as she leant forward and intruded on Vash's personal space. The smirk on her face intensified as Katrina's eyebrows furrowed and she stared even more keenly into Vash's hesitant eyes.
"Don't be so silly, Vash," she said reprovingly. "Now, come on, just spill. When is the wedding?" Vash rubbed fretfully at the back of his neck. Why he was getting so flustered over conversing with Katrina about his relationship with Meryl, he did not know. Vash sighed resignedly.
"Next month," he said.
"Ooh!" Katrina wowed. "You going to invite me?" she puckishly suggested.
"If you get out of my face," Vash said blatantly. "Maybe." Katrina yielded and shifted backwards, allowing Vash to stand up. Vash huffed weakly and brushed himself off while Katrina ambled back to her stool behind the counter.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me she accepted your proposal before now!" she grumbled, smoothing her hair behind her ears.
"Hey! If I know I'm gonna get tackled, what do you expect?" Vash snapped wryly, returning to his own post. Katrina's eyes wavered to the ceiling and she let out a little embarrassed laugh.
"So is it going to be a big ceremony?" she asked, knitting her fingers and resting her chin on them. Vash looked at Katrina's engrossed face and shook his head.
"But it's going to be real nice, ain't it?" she perceived, a warm smile spreading across her mouth. A small tightening made itself known in Vash's chest. The tendrils of nuptial fear had just struck him for the first time. With difficulty, he gulped back the unease and nodded. Katrina registered the sudden trepidation and put a consoling arm around Vash.
"Don't worry, Vash. I'm sure it will be," she soothed, smiling even more warmly. Vash returned the smile gratefully. Then a thought struck him.
"What if something happens?" he posed quietly, looking with melancholy eyes to the glass below his elbows.
"Now Vash," Katrina began with a motherly air, shaking her finger at him. "What could happen?" She smiled again. At this, Vash brightened up considerably and the fear left him. He was glad to have his employer's confidence.
"Thanks, Katrina," he said, making a sub-conscious decision to think positive from then on. "I guess I wouldn't want to jinx it, now, huh?"
-
Knives stepped forward with a reflecting expression, shoving his crossbow-resembling gun back into his coat pocket. He scanned the parched ground before him and enjoyed the feel of the brittle gravel crunching beneath his feet. The recognition of a job well done filled his senses and made him laugh vindictively.
'Very good,' he thought to himself, pleased. 'Although, not perfect. Not as I thought.' Knives' mood darkened suddenly. He cupped his chin and growled at himself for the flaws of his new weapon that he had overlooked in its progress. It was powerful, he granted, but not powerful enough. And it was noticeably less docile than the original angel arm, considering it was only slightly more potent. The range and output were off, too, Knives discerned. Glitches he would have to remedy.
The faint whimpers of the child in his arms caught his attention. Knives turned to Airies and scowled as she suddenly burst into mountainous sobs.
"Stop blubbering," he hissed, but succumbing to give his niece a small cuddle. "I did you a favor." Airies cried into Knives' trench coat and instinctively clung to the fabric she could clasp with her tiny hands. Knives gave her a light, consoling pat and felt extremely awkward. He quickly ignored the feeling though, and turned his gaze back on the ground, perusing.
Something caught his eye amidst the sand. He crouched down and swept away the dust, revealing a small transparent stone with some molten silver adhering to it. He picked up the diamond and examined it. His brow slowly creased into a glare. It was hers, Knives realized. How had it survived? A paroxysmal wave of anger swept over him and he threw down the diamond with feverish loathing for the women who had taken his own brother from him.
"You let them get to you, Vash!" Knives bayed to the empty street, his breath heavy with fury. Airies ensued with a wail.
'You let them befoul you…you've wasted your whole life on them, Vash,' Knives snarled in thought, ignoring Airies. He was aflame in rage and sorrow for the injustice his kind suffered; for the injustice he had suffered because of two pathetic, useless humans.
"SEE WHAT YOU'VE BECOME?" Knives screamed, the agony of enduring the sin that was the human race bringing him to his knees. "YOU'RE A TRAITOR!"
Airies bawled louder than ever and finally her cries made a poignant impact on her uncle. Knives looked at her with glazed eyes and consequently began to think. What was he going to do with her now his plan was in motion? She was a half-breed, Knives perceived; part plant, part human. For this, Knives felt mixed urges. He felt the desire to protect Airies as one of his own kind and at the same time, the need to cause her great pain and anguish for the crime that she was. Knives weighed the pros, the cons and his options. He suddenly embraced his niece soothingly. Airies' cries slowly died away to minute whimpers.
"Da…shie," she said in an undertone with a snivel. Knives frowned.
"Don't worry," he spoke with underlying protectiveness. "You'll not be exposed to my brother's foolish Raison Detre. He'll never see you again." Knives looked with jaded eyes to the horizon and found himself undergoing a foreign emotion. He allowed himself to stand. With Airies held securely in his arms, he paced out into the distance, away from the wasteland town. His malignant character returning, a smile refined Knives' mouth.
-
Vash hummed blithely to himself, meandering out of the jewelers with a jacket slung over his shoulder. The standard cheesy grin was live across his face and he could not have looked so simplistically happy. He strutted down the cobbled pathway until he came to the bakery. The smell of oven fresh bread and pastry and sweet cakes and so many other delicious things tickled his nostrils. Pressing his forehead up against the window, he assessed the treats within. Cakes of indulgence and saccharine delicacies layered shelves on the left, while savory buns, rolls and hot pies and things occupied others. Vash grinned wider and went inside. He stood in the center of the shop for a moment and breathed deep. The aromas tantalized his senses.
"Good afternoon, Vash," said the dwarf-like store clerk, who went by the name of Brian White. At first, when Vash had begun ogling the contents of the bakery from outside, to and from his trips to work, Brian had certain 'suspicions' about the donut freak. As time went by, however, and Vash became usual in his visits with a very friendly disposition, Brian quickly warmed up to him and always found it quite flattering when Vash described his store-made donuts as "The best in the whole world!"
"What can I tempt you with today?" Brian asked with a chortle. "The usual?"
"No thanks, Mister White," said Vash. He smirked and slammed a ten double-dollar note flat on the bench. "Double-glazed!" he beamed.
"Coming right up!" hailed Brian, ducking below the counter and delving into the shelves. He resurfaced a moment later with a box of particularly sugary looking donuts. He smiled at Vash and handed them to him.
"They look yummy!" Vash said eagerly.
"Sure do," replied Brian. "On the house, Vash!" He pushed the note away. Vash looked at him.
"Oh, no!" he protested.
"Oh, yes. Come now, Vash. Can't I treat my best customer once in a while?" he laughed.
"Well, I guess so," Vash granted and began to laugh with him. "Hey, thanks!"
"My pleasure," said Brian as Vash made for the door. "See you tomorrow!"
"As always," Vash replied through a syrupy donut, waving. "Bye!" With that, he bounced out the door and continued out of the mews with an even wider grin on his face and a jump in his steps. There had been nothing fantastic or special about this day, he decided, but it had been great nonetheless. Vash could not have felt happier as he proceeded home. He sashayed up to the porch and flopped onto the wooden rocking chair, enjoying his fifth donut just as much as the first. Tawny sunshine now bathed the scene. Vash looked to the horizon and registered the first of the twin suns was setting. The remaining warm congregated another smile on his face. He sighed loudly and contentedly and slumped further down into the chair.
"Mister Vash?" he heard Milly call. "Is that you?" The front door opened inwards and Milly appeared at the threshold.
"Hello!" said Vash merrily. "I'm home." Milly gave him a strange look and he noticed it was disappointment.
"Meryl and Airies and Mister Knives aren't with you?" she posed.
"Uh…No. Why would they be?" Vash asked.
"Oh." The look of disappointment took a turn towards panic. "Well, they went out together to the corner store before lunchtime," Milly began. "Meryl said they would only be a little while but since they didn't come back before lunch, I assumed they would be visiting you at work or something."
Vash's happiness began to diminish, a look of slight alarm appearing on his own face.
"You didn't go look for them?" Vash asked incredulously.
"Meryl told me to look after the house," Milly said.
"Milly!" Vash yelled exasperatedly as panic completely overtook him. Milly was taken aback. Vash suddenly realized his outburst. Composing himself, he stood and handed his box of remaining donuts to Milly.
"Sorry, Milly. I'll go look for them now," he said, putting a reassuring smile on his face. Milly scrutinized him hesitantly for a moment then inclined her head. Vash threw his jacket onto the chair and sped off the porch and away down the street. His feet took him first to the corner store. Before the owner could shut up shop, Vash asked around if anyone had seen Meryl and Airies or Knives. No one had. Vash's panic mounted even more as he asked along the residents of the street and got no luck. Soon enough he was searching every nook of the town, although it took him little less than two hours seeing as it was not that big of a town. Not one person he asked had seen them and there was no trace of them anywhere within the settlement.
Vash dragged his feet miserably down the last road he had searched and wondered how Meryl, Knives and Airies could have just vanished. His feet no longer holding him and his remaining motivation turning to despair, he fell to his knees and sat in front of the smoldering sunset, staring at the ground. With a sigh he leant forward and put his palms to the sand, scrunching some up in each hand. Clenching tighter, he felt something sharp jab his palm.
"Ow!" he gasped and his fist quickly flew open. Vash dissected the contents of his hand and found a tiny diamond. Previously melted silver clung to it and stole some of the snowiness. Vash stared at it, his mind racing. Then, like a blow to the stomach he could not have been prepared for, comprehension dawned on him. His heart pounded and his breath came in rapid gasps. He glanced all around him for signs and noticed a contrast in the sand a few metres left from him. A darkish sort of mildew lay on the ground at bit away and in front of from him. A gasp then a scream expelled from Vash's lips and he sprung up and away from the sand as if it were acidic. He quavered on the spot, not sure if his legs would hold, just staring at the place where he had sat.
"Oh god," he rasped as the sting of understanding hit his eyes. "Oh god," he repeated and continued feverishly. As he stood, he shook more and more violently and tears came in rivulets down his cold cheeks. Ultimately, his legs gave way and he fell to his knees again. He clapped his hands to his face and sobbed loudly, sand mingling with the salty tears. Nothing could have prepared him for this. Nothing could have eased this loss.
She had been killed so barbarically…Only the diamond was left.
Vash began to feel unwell and weak. He descended fully into the sand and simply lay, his body shaking, his face soggy. All feelings were shut out by grief. Around evening, he fell unconscious.
-
She fell into the corner, her eyes and body throbbing and panging. She hugged herself and began to silently weep. Why did he do such things to her?
'It hurts,' said a voice in her mind. It was her own, but at the same time it belonged to someone else. She heard it often.
'Yes,' she answered, gasping back a sob and clinging to her knees.
'He's done it before,' said the voice with a melancholy air as it echoed in her head. 'I do not know why.'
'Nor do I. I only wish for his love.'
'I only wish for my father's love,' they spoke in unison.
If thy wishes a faster update, thy knows what thy must do. -points to review button-